COVID-19 and Social Distancing: A Cross-Cultural Study of Interpersonal Distance Preferences and Touch Behaviors Before and During the Pandemic
Croy I , Heller C , Akello G , Anjum A , Atama C , Avsec A , Bizumic B , Borges Rodrigues R , Boussena M , Butovskaya M , Can S , Cetinkaya H , Contreras-Garduño J , Costa Lopes R , Czub M , Demuthova S , Dronova D , Dural S , Eya OI , Sorokowska A , Monaghan C , et al.
Cross-Cultural Research · 2024
Summary
This study examined how the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped preferred interpersonal distances and everyday touch behaviours around the world. The authors combined two large cross-cultural surveys — one collected roughly two years before the pandemic and one during a comparatively stable, lower-infection period in mid-2021 — totalling nearly 14,000 respondents. Preferred distance toward others increased by about 54% during the pandemic, a shift observed across every participating country and every type of social relationship. The expansion was larger among people who reported greater perceived vulnerability to disease. Somewhat counterintuitively, respondents also reported more frequent interpersonal touch during the pandemic than before it. The findings show that the felt threat of infection systematically alters social spacing across cultures.